Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Guys, Smith literally said "we can't just keep kids out of school for 6 months and think that's ok." They will be back in the fall.

Perhaps the reality of our situation hasn't fully sunk in. We all have to accept things which were previously unimaginable. Who knows, maybe covid will disappear this summer, never to reemerge? This is a situation no one has dealt with before. We're doing things ad hoc and there's no road map.

That’s true, but that also means that we will have to accept certain levels of risk that we would have otherwise found unacceptable.

You don't have the option of accepting the risk for health care workers who have to take care of you when you get sick with COVID-19. That's why the Governor stepped in to stop you from putting others in danger.

The governor issued the stay-at-home order to flatten the curve. The curve has been flattened, and he is now talking about lifting the stay-at-home order. If you're concerned about the risk for health care workers, talk about that, not keeping schools closed - potentially for years. I, personally, think that schools are more important than golf courses and hair salons. I think that schools are an essential government activity. But you're allowed to have your own opinion about that, of course.

The curve has not been flattened yet. Decisions are not being made based on what you think is more important or on your opinion. Decisions are being made based on what is the safest possible activity. Schools are one of the least safest activities. You can say they are important all you want, but that doesn't make them safe to open as they existed before. The word essential is not going to re-open schools as they were on March 1st.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Guys, Smith literally said "we can't just keep kids out of school for 6 months and think that's ok." They will be back in the fall.

Perhaps the reality of our situation hasn't fully sunk in. We all have to accept things which were previously unimaginable. Who knows, maybe covid will disappear this summer, never to reemerge? This is a situation no one has dealt with before. We're doing things ad hoc and there's no road map.

That’s true, but that also means that we will have to accept certain levels of risk that we would have otherwise found unacceptable.

You don't have the option of accepting the risk for health care workers who have to take care of you when you get sick with COVID-19. That's why the Governor stepped in to stop you from putting others in danger.

The governor issued the stay-at-home order to flatten the curve. The curve has been flattened, and he is now talking about lifting the stay-at-home order. If you're concerned about the risk for health care workers, talk about that, not keeping schools closed - potentially for years. I, personally, think that schools are more important than golf courses and hair salons. I think that schools are an essential government activity. But you're allowed to have your own opinion about that, of course.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Guys, Smith literally said "we can't just keep kids out of school for 6 months and think that's ok." They will be back in the fall.

Perhaps the reality of our situation hasn't fully sunk in. We all have to accept things which were previously unimaginable. Who knows, maybe covid will disappear this summer, never to reemerge? This is a situation no one has dealt with before. We're doing things ad hoc and there's no road map.

That’s true, but that also means that we will have to accept certain levels of risk that we would have otherwise found unacceptable.

You don't have the option of accepting the risk for health care workers who have to take care of you when you get sick with COVID-19. That's why the Governor stepped in to stop you from putting others in danger.

Yes, society does have the option of accepting that risk. That’s why things are starting to open gradually. There is a recognition that we need to open parts of the economy to avoid economic ruin. There can and likely will be a similar acknowledgement that we need to educate our children, and also that schools functioning in reasonable form are needed to get people working.

All of these things involve some risk. But there is no risk free option. Leaders are making the tough decisions to calibrate the various risks and trying to strike the right balance.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Schools in Montana and Idaho opened this week.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/07/us/montana-willow-creek-school-reopening/index.html

Yes, the school referenced has 50-60 students in grades K-12 TOTAL, there are only 9 students listed on their HS ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act) report card.
Gallatin County, where Willow Creek is located, had a TOTAL of 146 cases, with one death, and currently has NO active cases... and for Montana, these numbers are high. Very hard to compare that to our area. I don't think anyone would be debating if we currently had no active cases or if our school numbers were small enough to have students distance. We have more students in a grade level at most schools than they have in their entire K-12 school.

I would love to be out in Montana right now. I hate the congestion here, now more than ever.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The curve has not been flattened yet. Decisions are not being made based on what you think is more important or on your opinion. Decisions are being made based on what is the safest possible activity. Schools are one of the least safest activities. You can say they are important all you want, but that doesn't make them safe to open as they existed before. The word essential is not going to re-open schools as they were on March 1st.

The curve has been flattened, decisions are not being made based on what is the safest possible activity, and there is no evidence that schools are one of the least safe activities.

So yes it's been flattened (not growing exponentially anymore) -- but it's not actually FLAT much less declining. rate of new cases is still growing in MoCo and in Maryland more broadly, as it is nationally (when you remove NY from picture):

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/maryland-coronavirus-cases.html
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/05/06/opinion/coronavirus-deaths-statistics.html

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Schools in Montana and Idaho opened this week.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/07/us/montana-willow-creek-school-reopening/index.html

Yes, the school referenced has 50-60 students in grades K-12 TOTAL, there are only 9 students listed on their HS ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act) report card.
Gallatin County, where Willow Creek is located, had a TOTAL of 146 cases, with one death, and currently has NO active cases... and for Montana, these numbers are high. Very hard to compare that to our area. I don't think anyone would be debating if we currently had no active cases or if our school numbers were small enough to have students distance. We have more students in a grade level at most schools than they have in their entire K-12 school.

Anonymous wrote:This is actually an extremely well thought out plan. Parents, teachers, kids, schools and workplaces are all going to have to change drastically in order to begin to reopen schools. Everyone is going to have to sacrifice.

Anonymous wrote:Schools in Montana and Idaho opened this week.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/07/us/montana-willow-creek-school-reopening/index.html

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, society does have the option of accepting that risk. That’s why things are starting to open gradually. There is a recognition that we need to open parts of the economy to avoid economic ruin. There can and likely will be a similar acknowledgement that we need to educate our children, and also that schools functioning in reasonable form are needed to get people working.

All of these things involve some risk. But there is no risk free option. Leaders are making the tough decisions to calibrate the various risks and trying to strike the right balance.

Well, some leaders are.

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, society does have the option of accepting that risk. That’s why things are starting to open gradually. There is a recognition that we need to open parts of the economy to avoid economic ruin. There can and likely will be a similar acknowledgement that we need to educate our children, and also that schools functioning in reasonable form are needed to get people working.

All of these things involve some risk. But there is no risk free option. Leaders are making the tough decisions to calibrate the various risks and trying to strike the right balance.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Guys, Smith literally said "we can't just keep kids out of school for 6 months and think that's ok." They will be back in the fall.

Perhaps the reality of our situation hasn't fully sunk in. We all have to accept things which were previously unimaginable. Who knows, maybe covid will disappear this summer, never to reemerge? This is a situation no one has dealt with before. We're doing things ad hoc and there's no road map.

That’s true, but that also means that we will have to accept certain levels of risk that we would have otherwise found unacceptable.

You don't have the option of accepting the risk for health care workers who have to take care of you when you get sick with COVID-19. That's why the Governor stepped in to stop you from putting others in danger.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The curve has not been flattened yet. Decisions are not being made based on what you think is more important or on your opinion. Decisions are being made based on what is the safest possible activity. Schools are one of the least safest activities. You can say they are important all you want, but that doesn't make them safe to open as they existed before. The word essential is not going to re-open schools as they were on March 1st.

The curve has been flattened, decisions are not being made based on what is the safest possible activity, and there is no evidence that schools are one of the least safe activities.

So yes it's been flattened (not growing exponentially anymore) -- but it's not actually FLAT much less declining. rate of new cases is still growing in MoCo and in Maryland more broadly, as it is nationally (when you remove NY from picture):

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/maryland-coronavirus-cases.html
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/05/06/opinion/coronavirus-deaths-statistics.html

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The curve has not been flattened yet. Decisions are not being made based on what you think is more important or on your opinion. Decisions are being made based on what is the safest possible activity. Schools are one of the least safest activities. You can say they are important all you want, but that doesn't make them safe to open as they existed before. The word essential is not going to re-open schools as they were on March 1st.

The curve has been flattened, decisions are not being made based on what is the safest possible activity, and there is no evidence that schools are one of the least safe activities.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Guys, Smith literally said "we can't just keep kids out of school for 6 months and think that's ok." They will be back in the fall.

Perhaps the reality of our situation hasn't fully sunk in. We all have to accept things which were previously unimaginable. Who knows, maybe covid will disappear this summer, never to reemerge? This is a situation no one has dealt with before. We're doing things ad hoc and there's no road map.

That’s true, but that also means that we will have to accept certain levels of risk that we would have otherwise found unacceptable.

You don't have the option of accepting the risk for health care workers who have to take care of you when you get sick with COVID-19. That's why the Governor stepped in to stop you from putting others in danger.

The governor issued the stay-at-home order to flatten the curve. The curve has been flattened, and he is now talking about lifting the stay-at-home order. If you're concerned about the risk for health care workers, talk about that, not keeping schools closed - potentially for years. I, personally, think that schools are more important than golf courses and hair salons. I think that schools are an essential government activity. But you're allowed to have your own opinion about that, of course.

The curve has not been flattened yet. Decisions are not being made based on what you think is more important or on your opinion. Decisions are being made based on what is the safest possible activity. Schools are one of the least safest activities. You can say they are important all you want, but that doesn't make them safe to open as they existed before. The word essential is not going to re-open schools as they were on March 1st.